A Latvian factory linked to Russian oligarchs is paid at least one million euros from EU funds

It was known that the factory implements fund projects in general, and we also talked about it in the LTV program “de facto” last year. However, at that time they were not finished yet and another round of European sanctions was taking place. Its outcome could affect the payment of money, if the actual owners of the factory, of which Bokarev and Mahmudov are already under the sanctions of several countries, would also be included in the sanctions of the European Union. But it didn’t happen.

“The agency, of course, uses information about sanctions when evaluating, and if any of the persons or companies were sanctioned, then of course cooperation and payments would not take place. But currently, the regulatory acts do not provide for another way to evaluate companies that have some known connection with Russia.

Therefore, the agency operates within the framework of regulatory acts and cannot make any contrary decisions, of course,” explained CFLA Deputy Director Gundega Šulta.

However, this is not all that the company could receive from European funding. RER also participates in a study co-financed by the Recovery Fund – also European money. In it, RER claims 156 and a half thousand euros. Also, unlike previous projects that began before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, this one began half a year after.

Research participants are selected by the Energy and Transport Competence Center. There, they checked the information about the company and found nothing in the official registers that hinders the cooperation. Māris Zubachs, a member of the board of the center, also added: “We’re not good enough to understand what surnames and with whom they cooperate in Russia and what their weight is. And thirdly, if there was any harm from all this, then probably would ask those questions, or would the security services or the police and KNAB issue reprimands. And since we are still being checked by the CFLA and the Ministry of Economy, what do you think we should do?”